


It's New Year's Eve Somewhere

by Demerite



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Found Family, M/M, New Year's Eve, Post-Star Trek Beyond, Summer, Swimming, pretty damn fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-31
Updated: 2019-12-31
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:12:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22048732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demerite/pseuds/Demerite
Summary: On shore leave, the core crew of the Enterprise celebrate New Year's Eve - or something like it.
Relationships: James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Nyota Uhura/Spock
Comments: 9
Kudos: 42





	It's New Year's Eve Somewhere

**Author's Note:**

> Last fic of 2019, whooo! Inspired entirely by the incredibly hot weather we've had leading up to New Year's here in Australia.

After the negotiations are concluded, they're cleared for shore leave. Somewhat predictably, at least where Leonard's concerned, most of the Bridge crew end up staying kind of close to each other, in a region near the city's outskirts, renting apartments and cottages and the like. After everything that's happened in the last year or so, Leonard can understand it. No-one wants to stray too far, least of all him. 

There are still nights that he wakes up panicking, searching for Jim in the dark, mind back on Altamid, cut off from almost the entire crew, not knowing who had lived and who had died, who was a prisoner and who, if anyone, was free. 

Equally so, there are nights where Jim wakes silently and leaves their bed, and Leonard will find him standing alone, staring out towards whatever horizon is in view, wracked with silent guilt about all of those he couldn't save. 

So the break couldn't have come at a better time, and Leonard is glad that everyone decides, without having to talk about it with each other, to stick close. 

It's summer, or this planet's warm, dry seasonal equivalent, and Leonard can't say he minds that, either, not when Jim will wander in from outside in nothing but a pair of worn jeans, the fabric hanging low on his hips, his equally worn t-shirt tucked into his back pocket, to drape himself against Leonard's side, pressing expanses of warm skin against him and pretending that he's not just trying to leech the cool that the AC has left him with. 

Summer is the way Jim's freckles seem to multiply overnight - and Leonard never even knew he _had _more than a few, so long spent under artificial lighting that doesn't so the same job - and the way his hair goes light and sun-bleached at the ends after only a few days. 

Summer is bright days and nights that are too warm, but it doesn't matter when he's sprawled beside Jim on a bed that's properly wide enough for the two of them; not when they have each other to hold in the quiet, can swallow each other's moans with gentle lips and kiss the salt from each other's skin. 

A week into their leave, Jim insists on getting everyone together for a trip down to the bend in the river, where the water flows wide and slow and lazy. Leonard agrees to it because Jim is so excited that he can't bear to refuse him, can't bear to say no to those wide, imploring eyes. So he goes, and he sits underneath what he's pretty sure is a repurposed survival shelter from a field pack and catches up on various interspecies medical journals, occasionally looking up to keep an eye on everyone. 

Jim, naturally, is the first into the water. 

He throws himself in without even checking the temperature, and then calls out to tell everyone else to 'hurry up already, the water's great', a sentiment that Pavel disproves seconds later by sticking one foot into the water and leaping back with a shriek that Leonard just knows the younger man will deny for the rest of his life. 

"You asshole!" Pavel shouts at Jim, who is cracking up laughing hard enough that Leonard is temporarily worried the idiot is gonna end up drowning by accident. 

Pavel kicks water indignantly in Jim's direction, and Jim splashes back but accidentally gets Hikaru, who _hurls _himself into the water, intent on revenge and apparently immune to the cold, and attempts to wrestle him under. 

Pavel follows them in tentatively, avoiding the tussling pair and sticking mostly to the shallows, at least until he appears to get a feel for the temperature. 

Nyota has found a large rock she and Spock can sit on, and she's dipping her feet in the water, graceful as ever in a long, colourful sundress, her hair falling in a loose curtain down her back. She leans against Spock's side, and he obligingly puts an arm behind her, not quite an embrace, but a considerable display of affection from the normally-reserved Vulcan. Leonard is almost tempted to get a picture, for later blackmail purposes, and definitely not because he knows that Nyota will be grateful for it later. 

"Get you a drink, Len?" Scotty asks, flopping down beside him.

Leonard raises an eyebrow, both at the nickname, and the offer. "It's 11 am." He says, and Scotty shrugs with a low chuckle.

"We're on holiday, aren't we?"

Leonard looks up in time to see Jim swim over the Spock and Nyota's rock, and grab Nyota by the ankle, attempting to drag her into the water.

"You know what?" He says with an affectionate sigh for the idiots who have become his family, "I think I will have that drink, Scotty."

A little while later, Jim drags himself out of the water, and comes to sprawl on the grass next to Leonard, dripping all the while. He leans up for a kiss, and Leonard obliges him, meets lips cool from the water, but bats Jim’s hands away when he tries to pull him close, grumbling about Jim getting water on his PADD if he’s not careful.

Jim is grinning, breathless and elated and carefree in a way Leonard hasn’t seen from him in a long while. 

“You coming in?” Jim asks, grinning up at him from where he’s lazing back on the grass, water droplets still sparkling in his eyelashes.

Leonard snorts, “You know how many bacteria are in that water?” He asks. It’s mostly rhetorical.

“Nope.” Jim shrugs, utterly unconcerned.

“And neither do I.” Leonard grumbles back, “Which is why I’m not getting in there.”

Jim tips his head back and laughs, warm and open and uncontrolled. He’s beautiful, Leonard muses, and for once he doesn’t chastise himself for thinking it, because they’re not on duty, he’s allowed to look at Jim and think those thoughts. 

***

“You know what today is?” Jim asks, later.

The sun has long gone down, and the rest of the crew are gone back to their various lodgings. The light spills out onto the porch, where Jim is leaning on the railing, staring out towards the mountains, where the great full, golden disc of the moon is rising.

“Tuesday?” Leonard offers, stepping up beside him, slinging an arm around Jim’s waist.

Jim laughs softly and leans against his side. “Hilarious, Bones.” He’s quiet for a moment, then, “It’s New Year’s Eve.” 

"It's July." Leonard retorts, raising an eyebrow. 

"Not on Earth." Jim says, with a huff of laughter, "Here." 

"Really?" Leonard asks, but he's not really listing, too caught up in watching the way Jim's smile lights up his eyes. 

"Mmm." Jim agrees, "The locals celebrate by spending the day at large outdoor gatherings, and retreat to their homes in the evening to celebrate the New Year with their families." 

Leonard takes this in quietly, "Sounds like we're blending in pretty well then." He says. 

Jim nods, silent for a moment. Then he turns and presses his lips against Leonard's in a kiss that starts soft and short, but doesn't finish that way, Leonard pulling him close to lick into his mouth and leave them both breathless. 

"Happy New Year, Bones." Jim breathes into the momentary silence, "I love you." 

"Love you too, darling." Leonard murmurs back, already pulling Jim back towards the house, the cool air, and their bed, beyond it all. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [Tumblr](https://demerite.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
